The Laughing Nightmares
by Timewitch
Summary: Halloween-themed oneshot. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon are reborn on Halloween. Of course, they're too much for poor Elecmon to handle. In order to keep them busy, he gets them to watch the Nightmare before Christmas.


**The Laughing Nightmares**

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Author note: The fic is based on Adventure and Adventure Zero Two. I've watched those two seasons in the greek dub; that's why there are names from both the Japanese and the English version.

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"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!!" Elecmon's electronic alarm clock rang.

Mechanically, he tossed his quilt, hit the alarm to shut it up and covered himself with the quilt again. He shivered; whenever he woke up without getting enough sleep he felt cold, even when it was warm. Let alone that it was the end of October…

Five minutes later, he heard another alarm clock ring, the sound coming from farther than his nightstand. He muttered curses, wondering why the heck he had scheduled another alarm clock to ring as well. He tried to sit up in order to locate the alarm clock, but hit his forehead with his hand as he realized that the room was pitch-dark, so he couldn't possibly see the clock…

To his surprise, he could. The ring was coming from an orange-colored lamp shaped like a carved pumpkin, which was spreading around a dim light.

_The Halloween alarm clock…_ he then remembered and sighed.

Most days, he would keep sleeping for about an hour after his regular alarm clock rang. On Halloween though, he had to get up early, otherwise he wouldn't manage to finish the preparations on time, so he had made a special alarm clock for it.

He got up and rushed to switch off the clock, so that it wouldn't possibly wake up the baby Digimon. The time before they woke up was the only time of the day that he could make arrangements in peace, therefore it was precious.

In spilt seconds, he opened the windows, tidied the room and grasped a much hated piece of paper: the to-do list for Halloween.

- -

After four hours or so, he decided to take a brief break. Most tasks on his list were ticked; the only ones left were the ones he couldn't do in the morning, those that would have to take place in the duration of the day. He smiled, being contented with the work he'd done so far, and placed the to-do list on his desk.

For the last twenty-five years, after that human called Oikawa had sacrificed his life to seal into protection the Digital World, no virus Digimon had been reborn, until the last two months: Myotismon, Devimon and the Digimon Emperor had taken over some parts of the Digital World, including the File Island and, of course, the Primary Village. The three of them had monitored rebirths to a great extent, mainly in order to lead into reconfiguration Myotismon's minions, even though those who had died in the Real World. They had also reduced most births and rebirths of other Digimon. Elecmon had had a lot less work those days, but he had hated it. The only reason the villains hadn't killed him was a strange, ancient "rule" about his job: whoever killed him would have to take his place. Forever. Thus, he had stayed alive until some of the DigiDestined had set the File Island free. Since the DigiDestined had rescued the place, he had had almost as much job as in the old times, as all Digimon were being reborn. It was tiring, but it was worth it.

Deciding that his break was finished, he got out of his room again in order to check on the eggs that were meant to hatch that day.

He examined the two eggs that would probably hatch first. The one was grey and scaled, while the other one was orange with green stripes.

_I wonder __whether these are getting born for the first time_, he wondered. He placed some food he had brought for the babies on a picnic tablecloth.

His question was soon answered. The two eggs hatched at the same time. Both babies stared at each other.

The one that had hatched from the orange egg spoke first. "Pal? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, pal!" said the one from the grey egg. "Oh, my God… you're alive!"

"You're alive too, pal!" said the other.

Elecmon stared at them. "Do you guys know each other?" he asked, trying to recall the two Digimon. He didn't blame himself for not managing to; he'd taken care of SO many babies after all. He decided to call them by the color of their eggs, and offered them some food.

"Yes! We're childhood friends! And we died together!" said "orange" between taking mouthfuls of food.

"Myotismon killed both of us because we didn't want to kill Matt and TK!" said "grey", eating as well.

"Huh? You know TK?" asked Elecmon.

"No, we said that name randomly," "grey" mocked Elecmon. "Of course we know him. Do you know him too?"

"No, I said the name randomly" Elecmon returned the joke.

"How is he?" asked "orange".

"Kari and Sora told me that…" Elecmon said before they interrupted him.

"Sora? Oh, yeah, Myotismon had mentioned her when he said the DigiDestineds' names," "grey" said pensively.

"Who's that Kari?" asked "orange".

"She's the Eighth DigiDestined," said Elecmon.

"They have found the Eighth DigiDestined?" asked a very astonished "grey".

"I told you the Eighth DigiDestined exists, Gotsumon!" "orange" said to "grey", even though "grey" wasn't a Gotsumon.

_He'll probably digivolve into Gotsumon later on_, thought Elecmon.

"If I don't see her with my own eyes, I'll take that as a fake rumor, Pumpkinmon!" said "grey".

Suddenly, their bodies were turned into light and then turned into the forms they had called each other.

"Oh, my God! How on earth did I digivolve so soon?" said Gotsumon, his voice trembling.

"I have the same question," said Pumpkinmon, his voice trembling equally.

"Calm down, calm down, it's OK" said Elecmon. "I'll tell you in a minute… but there was something else that I wanted to tell you as well and you made me forget it!"

The two babies stared at him.

"Hmm… oh, yeah. I was about to tell you that TK has become an acknowledged writer," said Elecmon.

"That's impossible, TK is a little kid!" said Pumpkinmon.

Elecmon shook his head. "Not anymore. He's 36 years old".

"No way!" both of them said.

"Is it because the times in the two worlds are different?" asked Gotsumon.

"The times of the two worlds are synchronized!" said Elecmon, although he wasn't sure if that remained true regarding the last few months. "They were synchronized after the DigiDestined defeated Myotismon, the Dark Masters and Apocalymon. That happened twenty-eight years ago!"

"Wait a minute… What's the date today?" asked Gotsumon.

"It's the 31st of October 2027," said Elecmon.

"You mean that… This is Halloween!" said Gotsumon.

"Wow, that's great! I've always wanted to be born on Halloween!" said Pumpkinmon.

Elecmon stared at them, astonished by their looniness; then, he felt as if he was hit by lightning. He covered his face with his paws. "Oh, I have so many jobs I haven't done yet for today! I gotta go! I've already wasted enough time having small-talk with you!"

Pumpkinmon stepped in front of him and Gotsumon stepped behind him.

"I'll commit suicide and it's gonna be your fault and you'll have to take my job so let me go!" Elecmon desperately attempted to threaten them.

Pumpkinmon pointed at him with his index finger. "Not before you tell us why we digivolved!"

Elecmon sighed. "OK. I think you digivolved because Myotismon is back and he had taken over the File Island and he had made some changes because he wanted his minions to be reborn and to be able to digivolve very soon after their rebirths and you were his minions, so…" he said and stopped to catch his breath.

"Wait! Is Myotismon reborn too? Is he here and you didn't tell us?" Gotsumon glared at Elecmon.

"We'd better hide NOW!" said Pumpkinmon.

"He isn't here!" said Elecmon. "The DigiDestined have booted him out of the File Island!"

"Phiew…" both Digimon sighed in relief.

"May I go now? Believe me, I have a lot of work to do!" said Elecmon.

"Wait! Who else from Myotismon's army was reborn besides us?" asked Gotsumon.

"A DemiDevimon, a Phantomon and several Bakemon, I think," said Elecmon.

"All the jerks," Pumpkinmon commented. "Anyways, how had they died?"

"The DigiDestineds were probably the ones who had killed them; I'm not sure though," said Elecmon. "I really have to go…"

"Don't worry, we can help you. What kind of job do you have to do?" asked Gotsumon.

"I have to organize the celebration for Halloween," Elecmon said hesitatingly, as he'd bet that their "help" would be much worse than their questions.

"Oh, we love Halloween!" said Pumpkinmon.

_That's what scares me the most_, Elecmon thought. _I must figure out a way to keep them busy during the preparations, or else I'm sure they'll ruin everything_. He decided to rack his brains to find something interesting to tell them, so that they would discuss it and leave him alone. He managed to recall something. "There was another one of Myotismon's army who was reborn too. He was reborn though after Myotismon left the File Island. A Wizardmon, if I remember well…"

"Oh, good old Wizardmon! How is he? How had he died?" Pumpkinmon asked cheerfully.

_I see why he loves Halloween_… Elecmon thought. "I had a small conversation with him. He told me he had died in order to protect the Eighth Child and Tailmon from Myotismon".

"Oh, Tailmon… I remember her… what a chick…too bad she had eyes only for Wizardmon," said Pumpkinmon.

"I wonder… Why did Wizardmon protect the Eighth Child?" said Gotsumon.

"And Tailmon… Why did she need protection from Myotismon in the first place? I think she used to do her job well," said Pumpkinmon. "Well, of course, maybe he had asked for something she would give only to Wizardmon…"

"Hush, there are babies around us, for crying out loud!" said Elecmon. "And as for your questions, ask one at a time. I can't answer all of them at once!"

"Hey, you're the caretaker of the Primary Village! You're supposed to be a multitasker! I bet you're not very good at your job!" said Gotsumon.

"Then you do it and we'll see if you manage better!" Elecmon said furiously.

"Oh, no, thank you," Gotsumon retreated.

Elecmon took a deep breath. "Tailmon is the Eighth DigiDestined and Kari's partner. That's why Myotismon wanted to kill them and that's why Wizardmon protected both of them".

"Really? Cool!" said Pumpkinmon. "Tailmon is always full of surprises, isn't she?"

"You tell me… I didn't even believe in the existence of the Eighth DigiDestined, let alone her partner being one of our comrades!" said Gotsumon.

Elecmon smiled with satisfaction. _At least I gave them something to talk about_, he thought. "Anyways, why don't you guys stay here to chat? I'm going to prepare the celebration…" he said, regretting his words the next moment.

"Oh, we've wasted so much of your time that we have to pay you back for it! We'll help you!" said Pumpkinmon.

"No, it's not necessary…" said Elecmon, trying to hide his panic.

"We insist!" said Gotsumon.

Elecmon sighed once again, wondering how many times he had sighed that day. "OK. I'll take a look at my task list and I'll see what I can ask you to do," he said searching for his list. Then, he remembered that he had left it into his room. "I'm going to find the list. I'll be right back" he said and headed to his room.

The list still was on his desk. He reached for it, but a wind blew it onto the floor. Elecmon kneeled to catch it; something caught his eye though. Under his desk, there was a bunch of DVDs. One of them was…

"The Nightmare before Christmas!" Elecmon gasped. "Why didn't I think of it earlier?"

- -

"Hey, guys! I've just found something for ya!" said Elecmon triumphantly, showing them the DVD. "It's a movie related to Halloween!"

"Can I watch it now?" pleaded Pumpkinmon.

"Sure!" Elecmon assured him. "Come on, both of you! You'll watch it in the mini-movie theater of the Village, along with the baby Digimon!"

"We can put some pranks on the babies too!" Gotsumon said enthusiastically, but changed his face expression when he saw Elecmon's face expression. Elecmon wasn't very good at defending his own rights, but he sure knew how to defend the rights of the babies.

He made sure everyone had a seat in the movie theater and then scheduled the movie to play.

He had just killed two birds with one stone; he had figured out a way to buy some time away from the babies and keep Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon busy. _The "Nightmare" has saved me from two other nightmares_, he thought. Yes, that was a nickname that suited them; they had proved they were worth it all the way. Relieved that he had managed to lull into "sleep" his two awaken Nightmares, he went to finally finish the preparation for the actual celebration of Halloween.

- -

Elecmon was celebrating along with the babies, when he noticed that two figures were missing. He went in the movie theater. Only two seats were taken; on the screen, the movie that had saved him was playing.

"Aren't you guys gonna come? The celebration has already started!" he told Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon.

They were laughing, as they were watching the hilarious scene with the Easter Bunny.

"Not yet. We wanna watch it again" said Gotsumon.

"Yeah, it's only the fifth time!" said Pumpkinmon.

Elecmon shook his head, but smiled tenderly. "Have fun then, you little Laughing Nightmares".

"How did you call us?" said Pumpkinmon.

"I called you 'Laughing Nightmares'. I hope you don't mind" said Elecmon, suddenly terrified by the possible consequences of his words.

"We miiiind!!!!!!!" Gotsumon said spookily. "Of course we don't mind. Don't worry, we'll get outta here soon".

"Yeah, soon!" said Pumpkinmon. "I have a nickname for you too. Happy Halloween, Easter Bunny!"

Elecmon smiled widely. "Happy Halloween, Laughing Nighmares!"

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Author notes: It was a pretty long oneshot, but I hope you enjoyed it. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon appear a little more mature than in season 1, but I think they're funnier like that. This fic is loosely related to one of my other fics, "Flaire", which I deleted due to Mary-Sue-ness (if you don't know what a MarySue is, look it up on wikipedia). Anyways, as you may have noticed, the fic was homage to the Nightmare before Christmas. I love that movie, and it totally suits the personalities of Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon.


End file.
